This is the first time that a president-elect is welcoming foreign leaders to his inauguration.
Donald Trump is breaking with tradition to invite Chinese President Xi Jinping and right-wing leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Seats at the inauguration are also being reserved for a whole host of far-right and populist politicians from Europe and Britain. These include Nigel Farage, the leader of the U.K.'s anti-immigration Reform party, and the far-right French presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, who has been convicted multiple times of inciting racist or religious hatred.
As is Tino Chrupalla, a co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), will also attend — this follows Elon Musk's endorsement of the party. Musk recently hosted AfD co-leader Alice Weidel on his social media platform, X, raising further speculation about whether he is seeking to influence European politics.
In Italy, the newspapers are full speculation about whether Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni will be just a spectator at the inauguration, or if she will get some time to speak with Trump, or at least have a photo op — both options that would raise her burgeoning reputation as a key interlocutor between Trump and Europe.
Meloni was one of few world leaders to visit the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida this month. So far Trump has sidelined the European centrist political mainstream — EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has conspicuously not been invited to his inauguration.
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